About Us

HISTORY

Founded in 2010, Clean Feet Investors I (“CFI”) has deployed over $30 million in equity and debt capital into sustainable cash flow generating assets. Our investors include individuals and Foundations interested in creating a positive impact with their capital while achieving a market-rate risk-adjusted return.

APPROACH

Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, Profits

Assets: Physical sustainable infrastructure deployments

Predictable: Revenues and costs of projects are contractual and/or have historic precedent

Long Term: Life-long assets with revenue generation capability often well beyond investment period

Cash-Flow: Recurring revenue, cash-flow generating assets

Upside Potential: Possible returns from ownership stakes in partners

THE CFI TEAM

The successful implementation of creativity structured investments in a variety of sectors demands experience, due diligence, and a strong commitment from a management team.

Bernard J. Zahren, Manager

Bernie Zahren has spent over 47 years in a variety of entrepreneurial and management roles accumulating a wealth of knowledge in both investment syndications and renewable energy. Mr. Zahren has been instrumental in implementing business focused sustainability initiatives. He has testified before Congressional committees on alternative energy issues and has chaired a special committee that worked for extensions of Internal Revenue Code income tax credits for the production of alternative fuels.

Zahren Financial Co., LLC is the Manager of Clean Feet Investors I, LLC. CFI is a private multi-million dollar investment fund with a successful 8 year track record to-date. The business focuses of CFI’s portfolio include: Solar Photovoltaic, SREC aggregation & finance, energy efficient hydroponic greenhouses, battery storage, water heater controls and Solar Thermal and energy brokerage. Projects are located throughout the U.S.

In 2018 ZFC sponsored a private placement for the Series D Convertible Preferred Stock of Stem, Inc. www.stem.com. Investment by CFI in the 2013 early deployment of battery storage systems using the proprietary AI of Stem led to the opportunity to participate in the mature venture Capital round in 2018. ZFC Capital Partners I, LP acquired 2,366,925 shares of the Preferred D stock in December, 2018.

Owner and Founder of Zahren Financial Co., LLC since 1984. ZFC structured and managed a variety of successful equipment leasing offerings in the 1980’s. In the early 1990’s Zahren Alternative Power Corp. (ZAPCO), a spinoff of Zahren Financial Co., LLC, was built into a portfolio of 27 landfill gas and co-generation projects through acquisition and development. In 1998 ZAPCO executed the first significant international trade of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Reductions in the U.S. This transaction was equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road for an entire year. ZAPCO was then sold to another entity in 2001 in a sale valued at $98 million.

Prior to forming his own company, Mr. Zahren developed successful investment syndications for a subsidiary of CIGNA Corp. Early in his career, he held senior management positions in such firms as Angeles Leasing Corp., Architectural Wood Products, Inc. and The Koppers Company.

In 2010 Mr. Zahren founded Clean Feet Investors I, LLC (CFI) along with Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison, (www.cleanfeetinvestors.com). CFI seeks to provide significant returns from socially responsible investments in small to medium-sized renewable energy and energy conserving projects. By employing effective investment structures for sophisticated investors, CFI is helping to fill the current void in “non-dilutive” capital for an industry segment that is both very attractive and critical for an effective overall energy policy. In our humble opinion, this represents the epitome of Doing Well by Doing Good! The CFI Team is comprised of leaders and innovators in the alternative energy sector who have decades of experience in entrepreneurial management, investment syndications, accounting and direct “hands on” operations of renewable energy projects.

Mr. Zahren truly believes in reducing his own carbon footprint, not only by managing and investing in CFI, but also by his renovation to his home which achieved “Net Zero Energy” awards through multiple deployments including: a 15 kilowatt wind turbine, geothermal heating and air conditioning, and a solar thermal hot water system.

He serves as the Chairman of the Avon CT Clean Energy Commission and has served as a member of the Board of the Talcott Mountain Science Center and Academy (www.TMSC.org) and on the Board of the Special Olympics and Community Health Charities of CT.

Mr. Zahren holds a BS from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.

Bernie has three daughters and seven grandchildren. His active participation in helping reduce emissions that are contributing to Climate Change is his way of “paying forward” the obligation he believes we should all share for all life on Planet Earth.

Richard V. Kretz, CPA and Associate Manager

Dick recently retired from Cohn Reznick, LLP. Prior to his retirement he had been the managing partner of Kostin, Ruffkess & Company (a 140 person CPA firm) for 18 years. He was instrumental in executing the merger of Kostin, Ruffkess into JH Cohn, LLP which then merged with Reznick Group to form a 4,000 person CPA firm based in New York.

While he was the managing partner of Kostin, Ruffkess, the firm also created several other entities which were sold prior to the merger into JH Cohn. KR Wealth Management was the largest of these entities; Richard was instrumental in building the investment advisory practice and ultimately selling the company to new owners. During that time he held Series 7 and 65 licenses.

Dick has been a CPA in Connecticut since 1979 and has assisted and consulted with privately held businesses since his graduation from college in 1975.

He became a partner in Kostin, Ruffkess in 1987, and became the firm’s managing partner in 1993. During that time the firm grew from $4 million in revenues to $19 million when the firm was merged.

He has acted as the manager and subsequently partner in charge of Zahren Financial and its related entities from 1983 until his retirement. During that time the Zahren entities had grown to be the largest client of Kostin, Ruffkess until the company was sold in 2001. Subsequent to 2001, he continued to manage the account of the new owners of the Zahren entities.

Dick, also an investor in CFI, and his wife Kathy live in Avon, CT. He enjoys his retirement allowing him to pursue several personal hobbies, as well as assisting Clean Feet Investors I, LLC.

Rita King, CPA and Finance Manager

She was the controller of Zahren Financial and Zahren Alternative Power Corporation (ZAPCO) from 1993 to 1998. In 1998, she transitioned to being a Finance Consultant assisting with the sale of the company in 2001. Prior to working with Bernie at Zahren Financial, Rita was a Certified Public Accountant at Kostin, Ruffkess & Company. In addition to her many accounting and auditing duties at Kostin, Ruffkess, she was the CPA manager in charge of the Zahren entities. Rita earned her B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Hartford in 1986. Since 2001, she has been hard at work raising two children and serving as finance manager in her husband’s business.

Given her in-depth knowledge of our businesses, her strong accounting background, attention to detail and family focus, she is a perfect fit for Clean Feet and the opportunities ahead.

In addition, Rita serves as leader of the town wide Girl Scout Troop in Simsbury, CT, where she enjoys helping to develop strong leadership skills and confidence for young women. She is also a potter and is chair of the treasurer’s committee and co-chair of the website committee at Expressions Pottery Co-op in East Granby, CT.

Rita and her husband Leigh and two children live in Simsbury, CT.

Sidharth Singh, Associate Manager

Sid has over 15 years of project development and finance experience and started working with Clean Feet in 2012 while working as the finance lead for Bright Farms, and later joined as a Special Advisor in 2013 and helped structure CFI’s investment in Stem Inc.

Over the last 8 years, Sid has been exclusively focused on sustainable project finance and development, including projects in solar, cogeneration, battery storage, greenhouse agriculture, and energy efficiency. Previously Sid, was as Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley and Jefferies LLC completing over $4Bn in M&A and capital raising transactions for companies in Technology, Industrial, and Energy sectors.